Why We Need More Women In Tech

Women and girls still face a lot of obstacles in shaping technologies. The digital gender divide might be getting worse. Women and girls everywhere are missing, underrepresented, and dropping out from technology fields. As a result, today's tech – and increasingly today's world – does not reflect the diversity of women's experiences or ingenuity.

This isn't fair, it's not treating people like you want to be treated.

Beyond that, I've observed that technology is improved when women and girls have equal access. That's pretty much common sense, since tech talent has no gender bias, and I've got over forty years working with women engineers and programmers that proves it. (We need a lot more, and in the U.S. we're talking about a renewed emphasis on STEM — science, technology, engineering, and math — education.)

Too often, women in STEM get little acknowledgement for the work they're doing. As a nerd, it's my philosophy that everyone gets a fair chance to be heard. It's one of the reasons I started craigconnects.org. Earlier this year, I shared some big news: for the first time, in 2014, women outnumbered men in a UC Berkeley Computer Science course. We need to continue supporting trends like this. It's really important, folks.

Specifically, I'm adding my name to call on the United Nations, governments around the world, and key decision makers to remove all barriers to the development and use of technology, increase investment in girls' science and technology education around the world, and ensure women's and girls' full participation as developers and innovators.

Join me and add your signature to the Global Fund for Women and UN Women's petition. Let's make our call loud — we want to reach 20,000 signatures by March 5 in time to deliver the petition for International Women's Day on March 8th.

Tell your colleagues, friends, and social networks that their signature can make a difference in shaping the type of future we live in.